Good Big Brother
by stuckbeingrachel
Summary: Jerome's been distant and Mara's curious. What happens when Mara finds out what Jerome's been hiding? Good Big Brother Exstention from House of Couples! You don't need to read the drabble to understand it though(But ya can...if ya want...). R&R! It was prompted by greenkittycat. Jara (as usual) and Jerome/Poppy. Humor is also included. I don't own HOA!


**Here's the Good Big Brother exstention from House of Couples! You don't need to read the drabble to understand this; this just has extra scenes that you didn't get to see in House of Couples. But you can read it first if you'd like to, it's #67; check out the other drabbles too!**

* * *

"Good morning," Mara smiled at her friends, bouncing into the dining room.

Everyone mumbled hellos and she sat down in her usual spot next to Jerome's. Mara waited for Jerome's regular 'Morning, Jeffray', but it never came.

"Where's Jerome?" she asked.

"He left early," Alfie replied, stuffing a forkful of pancakes in his mouth.

"Jerome Clarke left early for school?" Joy said doubtfully.

Alfie shrugged, unable to make words come out of his overly stuffed mouth.

"I'm going to go catch up with him," Mara announces, grabbing an apple and bolting out the door.

Outside, the sun was just rising and a light breeze swayed Mara's black hair gently. After a quick glance around the yard Mara realized Jerome must be over at the school by now. She hopped down the stairs and hugged her school blazer tighter around her as the chilly England air surrounded her. Goosebumps rose on Mara's legs as she crossed the yard to the school. Anubis was the closest house to the school on campus. In minutes Mara was walking through the doors of the school. The hallways were empty and silent as she strolled along. She saw a few people in the class rooms or down other hallways but never spotted Jerome. Eventually she gave up after walking through the entire school. She bit into the apple she held and made her way to her locker. She spun her combination into the dial and the door clicked open. Grabbing the book for first period and the book she needed for the class she had a test for later that day (even though she already knows the subject forward and back), she shut her locker and hurried down the hallway to the first door on the left side of the hall. She took a seat at the front of the class room and took out the book and her notebook, and then her iPod. Switching shuffle on, she flipped her notebook open and began writing her multiplication tables down from memory.

"School hasn't started yet, Jeffray," someone chuckled from the front of the classroom.

Mara smiled and looked up at the blonde leaning against the wall before her. "It never hurts to work on your math, Clarke,"

"Maybe not to you; but everyone else," he shook his head with fake sadness.

"Where have you been? Alfie said you headed over here early, but you weren't here. Where were you hiding?" Mara asked with playful suspicion as Jerome took a seat in the chair next to her.

"I—" he cut short when a few students entered the room silently. "…went for a walk."

Mara's eyes searched his pale face; he wasn't telling the truth. He was lying because of the extra people. If it was just her he probably would have told her. When all of the chairs were filled the teacher stepped into the room and began speaking about the day's lesson. Mara swallowed hard, taking a piece of paper from her notebook, and wrote a message for Jerome. Sliding it over to him shakily she drew her hand back quickly, keeping her brown eyes trained to the front of the room. Without looking, Mara knew Jerome was smirking at her with amusement.

'_Nothing',_ Was his response to her note.

Mara bit her lip.

The question wasn't 'where was he hiding'; it's 'what was he doing?'

* * *

Mara hid behind the wall and watched him as he climbed into a hailed cab. Mara ran to the one she'd called minutes before and told the driver to follow Jerome's taxi with a quick please. After a rather lengthy ride, Mara's curiosity dissolved worry when Jerome's cab pulled into a hospital parking lot. Mara paid the driver as Jerome hurried in through the sliding double doors. Mara snuck in just as Jerome was strolling past the front desk and greeting the middle aged woman sitting there as if he'd been there before. Trying to follow him through several hallways without having a single thing to hide behind was difficult; especially with how many times Jerome had twisted around to look behind him. After one last flight of stairs and two more hallways, Jerome stopped in front of the last door on the left side of the hallway; 513. He opened it silently and shut it gently. Mara tip toed up to the door and pressed her ear to it.

"_Hey,"_ she heard Jerome greet whoever was with him. She detected a small smile in his voice.

"_Hey,"_ a quiet girl's voice repeated. Mara sucked in a breath.

Who was Jerome visiting?

"_How're you feeling?"_ Jerome asked.

"Can I help you?" a stern voice said behind her.

Mara gasped, shooting up from her crouched position. "I—I," she stammered, turning to the doctor, probably in his mid-forties. He had graying brown hair which was slicked back and green eyes that bore into Mara almost painfully. He arched an eyebrow at her hesitance and jerked his head to the elevator across from them.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave,"

* * *

Jerome stared at the girl on the hospital bed. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Gerbil," Poppy rolled her eyes. "I told you, I didn't know the brownies had peanuts. It was just a little allergic reaction."

Jerome sighed, running a hand through his hair and taking a seat next to Poppy on the bed. "Us Clarkes and our peanut allergies,"

"I know right?" Poppy giggled, and then turned to him seriously with an eyebrow arched. "Did you skip your last three classes to come visit me? Again,"

"…no…"

"Sure,"

"I had to avoid Mara today too," he told her. "She kept asking me where I was this morning before school."

"You haven't told her I'm in the hospital have you?" Poppy rolled her eyes again.

"No,"

She sighed and changed the subject, knowing her brother wouldn't elaborate. "Where were you before school?"

"Picking this up for you," Jerome reached into his pants' pocket and pulled out a small blue velvet box.

"What is it?" Poppy asked hesitantly.

"Dad got it for you," he assured her stuffing it into her hand. "Open it."

A small red Poppy on a silver chain sat perfectly on the dark blue stand with a small diamond in the middle of the flower. "It's so pretty."

"Here let me put it on," Jerome took the necklace from her and unclasped it. She held her dirty-blonde hair up as her brother looped the necklace around her neck.

"Thanks for picking it up, and tell dad thank you and that I love him." Poppy instructed him firmly.

"You can tell him yourself, he'll be coming by sometime this evening awhile before visiting hours are up." Jerome hopped off the bed and headed to the door. "I'm getting a drink, want something?"

"Cola," Poppy replied without a second thought.

Jerome rolled his eyes but nodded.

When he opened the door he had to stop abruptly to keep from ramming into Poppy's doctor and…Mara.

"No, listen, I'm just trying to find out who—Jerome." Mara gasped when her eyes landed on him.

"Mr. Clarke, this girl is claiming she knows you and your sister." The doctor sighed tiredly.

"Sister…" Mara mumbled, eyes growing wide and a blush filling her cheeks.

"Thank you, Dr. Reynolds." Jerome nodded at the man.

Reynolds gave a small nod to the two and walked off shaking his head and grumbling under his breath.

"Mara, what are you doing?" Jerome chuckled, turning to his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, Jerome, I just got curious…"

"Mara it's—" Mara continued and Jerome closed his mouth.

"I didn't trust you…" the raven haired girl continued to ramble, paying no attention to Jerome trying to talk to her.

"Mara—"

"I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to break up with m—"

"Mara," Jerome gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Shut up."

Mara's mouth snapped shut as his command.

"Do you want me to break up with you?" he asked seriously.

"No! I—"

"Then stop saying I should." Jerome's eyebrows drew together as he stared at her incredulously.

Mara breathed out slowly and nodded.

A deep chuckle erupted from Jerome's throat. "Come on, Jeffray," he kissed her forehead and wrapped slung an arm around her shoulders, hugging her close to his side as he pulled her down the hallway. "Let's go get a drink."

"Why is Poppy even here?" Mara questioned, taking a turn with Jerome around a corner where three vending machines sat against the wall.

"Allergic reaction; all Clarkes have a peanut allergy." Jerome answered, giving a small shrug.

"Why didn't you tell me Poppy was here?" Mara asked as Jerome fed the machine a couple pounds.

"I wanted to spend a little time with her first," he replied after a moment of silence, pushing the Cola button.

"And," Mara prompted knowingly.

"I didn't want anyone else to know I was visiting my sister." He pushed another button, and then another after that soda rolled down into the mini ramp.

"And why not," Mara planted her hands on her hips sternly.

"Because I'm Jerome Clarke, Jerome Clarke doesn't visit relatives when they're sick. I've spent years building up an image of someone who doesn't care about anything; that schemes and blackmails. After all that time, I can't just let it all fall in a single visit to the hospital."

"But, you're also Jerome Clarke, the one who _does _care about things; who cares about family and friends, and is a pretty sensitive, deep guy when you get to know him." Mara smiled at him sweetly. "Did you care when everyone found out your dad was in prison? No. Did you care when everyone saw how beat up you were while Alfie was in the hospital? No. Did you care when everyone found out you had given up hitting on every girl you meet, crushed on me, and decided to date me? Once again, no; you don't care what people think, that's why you're you. So what if everyone finds out you've been visiting Poppy; everyone in school already knows she's your sister, and that you really care about her. Plus, no one would dare making fun of you; you're pretty intimidating."

Jerome raised an eyebrow at her and sighed. She continued to smile up at him. He grinned, setting the three sodas he held on the vending machine, and wrapping his arms around her waist. He pulled her so close; she had to crane her neck to look him in the eyes. "Have I ever told how amazing you are?"

"Uh…once or twice…" Mara shrugged nonchalantly.

The blonde chuckled and leaned in, his lips barely brushing hers, his minty breath fanning them; teasing her.

"Not to scare you are anything, but I'm rubbing off on you." He whispered.

Mara giggled.

Jerome leaned into her and captured her lips with his. Mara threaded her fingers into his hair and sighed contently into the kiss. Jerome's arms left her waist and moved up to grasp her face between his hands. Mara's breathing became ragged as she tried to keep her breath long enough to keep the kiss going longer. Jerome helped her with that by breaking the kiss and moving down her jaw line to her neck. He ran his right hand down her neck to her shirt collar and pushed it away, giving him more room to place his butterfly kisses. Mara swallowed the moan that crept up her throat and pulled Jerome back to her lips. Mara gasped when her back hit the wall, and that was when she had realized Jerome had been slowly pushing her back. Jerome put his hands on either side of her head on the wall as Mara's hands slid down his neck to his red and yellow uniform tie. She wrapped it around her hand, pulling him even closer to her; if that was possible.

The two broke apart abruptly when someone cleared their throat behind them.

Jerome ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, turning to the person. "Dr. Reynolds."

"Could you two please carry on somewhere else? I just received a complaint."

"Of course, Dr. Reynolds," Mara smiled at the man and then looked at her and Jerome's shoes, blushing deeply.

Jerome gripped his flushing girlfriend's hand, pulling her down the hallway, and winked at her quickly. He pulled her into an elevator, kissing her passionately.

"You're such a good big brother," Mara murmured against his lips.

He chuckled. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Poppy never did get her soda…

* * *

**Aw, isn't that romantic; kissing in hospital hallway? **

**...**

**If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. -1 John 4:20-21**

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**Love y'all!**

**-Rachel**


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